Reply #76: Lots of Democrats are also private pilots

[MajorChode]

But I'm not sure what your point is even if there weren't. Are we now to penalize people strictly for their political affiliations?

GA isn't heavily subsidized and it certainly isn't subsidized by ticket taxes. The lion's share of AIP funds go to airports that serve air carriers. The AIP doesn't come close to covering all of the FAA's budget, so the rest comes right out of the general fund. So the money that comes from GA's fuel taxes may not quite cover the costs of non-air carrier airports that receive funds from the AIP, but the AIP isn't covering all of the air carrier airports either. The reality that you don't get from the hit job USAToday article is that both are subsidized from the general fund to some degree (and almost certainly more so on the air carrier side). Naturally the airlines want to shift more of that burden to GA and that's the only side USAToday bothered to ask.

The reality is that ALL transportation in the US is subsidized from busses to cars to airlines to trains. Some smart feller figured out a long time ago that subsidizing transportation gives you a lot bigger return than your outlay and GA is no exception to that rule.

edit:sp